Arts & Culture

The Apprentice: Brushing through week two

21 January 202221 January 2022By
The Apprentice: Brushing through week two

Lord Sugar is back in the boardroom, keen on having the candidates brushing their way into the dental market.

Last week we saw Harry become the first candidate fired. He left in a black cab with his very ‘tiny’ suitcase in true apprentice-style. 15 candidates now remain and are more driven than ever to become Lord Sugars next business partner. 

This week, the candidates are summoned to the Eastman Dental Institute in central London. Filling them in on this week’s task is Lord Sugar in the form of a tooth fairy. He reveals that they will be creating a brand-new electric toothbrush aimed at children aged between six and eight and an accompanying app that encourages children in brushing their teeth. 

Once the candidates have created their electric toothbrush and app, they’ll be pitching it to two significant buyers. To take a bite out of the market, they will need creativity and an understanding of what appeals to children.

4 am:

With the cabs arriving to collect the candidates in the next half an hour, it was off to the heart of Bloomsbury to the Eastman dental institute. 

With the oral health market now worth 60 billion annually, this week’s task wanted the candidates to create a new toothbrush aimed at children aged six to eight and partnered with a fully developed app that encourages the children to brush their teeth. All in hopes they can pitch to two major buyers and impress them and Lord Sugar.

11 am:

It was now time for the Project manager role to be decided.

Francesca decided PM was best suited to her for this dental challenge for the girls’ team, even though nursery owner Shama felt her years working with children would have given the team a head start. 

As PM, Francesca told the group she wanted their toothbrush to focus on a space theme, sustainable and for a unsex target market. 

Aaron took the PM role with Conor as sub-team leader for the boys. For their toothbrush, Aaron wanted his team to focus on the theme of magic with a wizard-like character. He also made it known he wanted it to have a unsex target market. 

The design team:

It was a sense of déjà vu for the boys’ team, or they just like the colour pallet of browns and greens… A wizard wand? It looked more like something else…

The girl’s design team abandoned Francesca’s idea of a plain orange toothbrush. Although they kept with the orange, this half of the group felt that it would attract their target market if the toothbrush had more patterns.

The app:

As a sub-team leader, Conor was slacking, especially with his ‘so-called’ experience in app design. 

“Conor has taken up the lead of the sub-team. He wants to be a leader, but he isn’t leading. There are so many different ideas going on there is no focus.” Said Campbell. 

The girls decided to take a more complex route into an app for brushing teeth. They decided to focus on earning rewards on different planets.

“Kids only brush their teeth for two minutes a day. The app is meant to teach them about brushing their teeth. But I can’t see how the educational element comes into it. It just doesn’t make any sense.” Said Brady.

9 pm:

With apps now complete. Prototypes are currently in production. It was down to tomorrow to see how the groups would handle their pitches. 

Brushing Star VS Wiffy the Wizard. 

10 am (the next day):

With half of the team heading into their first pitch, the others gathered target market feedback on their new toothbrush. 

The boys were the first to pitch to one of the leading healthcare brands.

One of the panellists said: “I have a seven-year-old, and the things she is engaged with are very bright and colourful. Your product, from the colour aspect, doesn’t stick me as something she would be engaged with.” 

Up next to impress were the girls, who seemed to change everything about their product whenever the panel criticised it.

“Every objection the panel had, they kept saying, don’t worry, we will change it. Normally you can change things as it is just a prototype, but they were changing everything,” said Brady.

When it came to their next pitch to leading drugstore Superdrug, the same criticisms were given to each group. 

The buyers were left even more confused than us viewers of the Brushing Star’s app. And for Wiffy the Wizard, their wand-like toothbrush looked more like a turd than something magical…

Over in central London, the other half of each team began to pitch to a room full of their target market… Six to eight-year-olds. 

And like Aheem said, it was “Savage”.

The Girls:

“It is a little bit youngish. But I like the head on it.”

“It’s not for me. I think it is for younger people like 3-year olds.”

“Not much is going on. I think you need music to inspire you.”

“Doesn’t tell me how to brush my teeth.”

The boys:

“I don’t really like the brown and the green together.”

“It is very cool.”

“It Is kind of a bit boring.”

“It isn’t really interesting me.”

The Boardroom and the brushing debate:

After some interesting pitches, it was to the boardroom for both groups.

The girls were the first to be in Lord Sugar’s firing line. 

“I think the floor here is no one knew what your app was.” Said Sugar.

However, the girl’s consumer feedback was more than positive, forgetting their app mishap. 

“The health care providers did have their reservations about the product. They liked the pitch and felt you had a lot of credibility. And therefore, they ordered 1000. The highstreets buyers liked the product and the pitch and placed an order of 10,000.” Said Brady

Next up were the boys. 

“I think I might get a physiatrist for you lot, as you seem to be fascinated with turds.” Said Sugar.

Unlike the girls, the boys and Wiffy the Wizard didn’t get the same reaction with their consumer feedback.

“Unfortunately, the health care providers didn’t like the product. The high street retailers placed zero orders.” Said Campbell.

And that meant it was the second time the boys had returned to the café. 

Back at the boardroom, it was now time for Lord Sugar to be the wizard, as he was about to make one of the candidates disappear. 

Returning into the boardroom- Aaron, Conor and Nick. 

Aaron: “You was the project manager for his product, and this product was awful.”

Nick: “You disagreed with the customer that has cost you orders.”

Conor: “Do you really know anything about apps. The customers didn’t get it.”

Abandoning the PM’s orders and lacking control as a sub-team leader, Conor was the next candidate to be fired!

And now 14 candidates remain, all eager to be Lord Sugars next business partner. 

Next week: To make a brand-new non-alcoholic drink.